Downtown San Jose Food Hall opens its doors
New cuisine hub executive says space hopes to be `go-to spot for to-go meals'
SAN JOSE >> A downtown San Jose food hall developed in stealth mode by Uber's co-founder has opened its doors to the public for the first time in a venue that brings a unique new experience to the city's urban core.
The downtown San Jose Food Hall, whose development has proceeded in hush-hush mode, celebrated its first day of business at 82 E. Santa Clara St., in an opening that attracted customers at a brisk pace on Friday.
“At San Jose's Downtown Food Hall, our mission is to become your go-to spot for to-go meals,” the food hall's website states. “We are a restaurant co-op that's modernizing the traditional food hall experience.”
Travis Kalanick, former chief executive officer of the ride-hailing company Uber, is the CEO of CloudKitchens, a ghost kitchen enterprise that developing the project at the corner of East Santa Clara and South Third streets.
The food hall is operating on the ground floor of the Odd Fellows building, a prominent downtown San Jose structure built in 1885.
A sign on a chalkboard outside the entrance to the venue on Friday invited the public: “Yes we're open.”
The website for the CloudKitchens venue on Friday displayed icons for 24 restaurants from which people could place orders.
“It's exciting to see new businesses opening all at once in the downtown,” San Jose City Councilmember Omar Torres said just before he walked inside. “This is what we need. More investments in our downtown. This Food Hall is one of them.”
The San Jose food hall could accommodate 26 kitchens, according to doc
uments on file with city planners. Ghost kitchens are facilities in which food ordered online from area restaurants is prepared and delivered straight to customers.
The new venue would bring life to a shuttered building that's been unused since a long-time furniture store closed its doors at the site in 2017, in the view of local economic and property experts — as well as city officials who hope for a post-coronavirus revival in sluggish downtown San Jose.
On opening day Friday, people crowded into the food hall to place or complete online orders as well as sit down to enjoy meals.
A formal grand opening is also being planned, San Jose city officials say.
Seating sections, cooking stations, kiosks, computer screens, seating areas and dining sections were visible on Friday. “From online web ordering to touchscreen kiosks, we make it easy to order from our 20+ partner restaurants,” the Downtown San Jose Food Hall venue states on its website.
These kinds of venues are what is needed to help downtown San Jose recover from its coronavirus-induced economic maladies, experts and observers say.
“It's important to activate downtown, not only for our residents but also for folks coming in for concerts, sporting events, office workers who are coming back to the office,” Councilmember Torres said. “This helps to create a healthy ecosystem in our downtown.”